diff --git a/PluralKit.Bot/Handlers/MessageDeleted.cs b/PluralKit.Bot/Handlers/MessageDeleted.cs
index 205ddbc2..f3a5cf70 100644
--- a/PluralKit.Bot/Handlers/MessageDeleted.cs
+++ b/PluralKit.Bot/Handlers/MessageDeleted.cs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+using System;
 using System.Linq;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 
@@ -13,6 +14,8 @@ namespace PluralKit.Bot
     // Double duty :)
     public class MessageDeleted: IEventHandler<MessageDeleteEventArgs>, IEventHandler<MessageBulkDeleteEventArgs>
     {
+        private static readonly TimeSpan MessageDeleteDelay = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(15);
+        
         private readonly IDatabase _db;
         private readonly ModelRepository _repo;
         private readonly ILogger _logger;
@@ -24,18 +27,35 @@ namespace PluralKit.Bot
             _logger = logger.ForContext<MessageDeleted>();
         }
         
-        public async Task Handle(DiscordClient shard, MessageDeleteEventArgs evt)
+        public Task Handle(DiscordClient shard, MessageDeleteEventArgs evt)
         {
             // Delete deleted webhook messages from the data store
             // Most of the data in the given message is wrong/missing, so always delete just to be sure.
-            await _db.Execute(c => _repo.DeleteMessage(c, evt.Message.Id));
+
+            async Task Inner()
+            {
+                await Task.Delay(MessageDeleteDelay);
+                await _db.Execute(c => _repo.DeleteMessage(c, evt.Message.Id));
+            }
+
+            // Fork a task to delete the message after a short delay
+            // to allow for lookups to happen for a little while after deletion
+            _ = Inner();
+            return Task.CompletedTask;
         }
 
-        public async Task Handle(DiscordClient shard, MessageBulkDeleteEventArgs evt)
+        public Task Handle(DiscordClient shard, MessageBulkDeleteEventArgs evt)
         {
             // Same as above, but bulk
-            _logger.Information("Bulk deleting {Count} messages in channel {Channel}", evt.Messages.Count, evt.Channel.Id);
-            await _db.Execute(c => _repo.DeleteMessagesBulk(c, evt.Messages.Select(m => m.Id).ToList()));
+            async Task Inner()
+            {
+                await Task.Delay(MessageDeleteDelay);
+                _logger.Information("Bulk deleting {Count} messages in channel {Channel}", evt.Messages.Count, evt.Channel.Id);
+                await _db.Execute(c => _repo.DeleteMessagesBulk(c, evt.Messages.Select(m => m.Id).ToList()));
+            }
+            
+            _ = Inner();
+            return Task.CompletedTask;
         }
     }
 }
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